She was already at that point, but she ate a few more bites because it was too damn good not to. Finally she leaned back with a sigh. “I’m good. No more.”
Rio scooted back on the bed, slid off and then reached back for the tray. Wordlessly, he ambled out of the room, leaving Grace alone in the silence. She strained to hear any other sounds in the house. The other men. But it was completely quiet.
They’d probably all gone to bed. She felt a surge of guilt thinking back on just all they’d sacrificed to get her here safely. Were they for real? She had so many questions to ask, more than her tired mind could even process.
She glanced back up when Rio reentered the room. He hesitated a moment and then said, “I promised you we’d talk and we will, but I’d like to jump in the shower if that doesn’t bother you. I’ll be out in five. Think you’ll be awake that long?”
Again, she felt guilt that he’d put her before everything else, even his comfort. He was still wearing the same clothes he’d been in for as long as she’d been with him.
“Please do,” she said quietly. “Take your time. I’ll be awake. It’s important to me to know what’s happened to Shea and how she’s doing.”
Rio nodded. “Okay, give me five and I’ll be back.”
He went to his chest of drawers, pulled out a change of clothes and then disappeared into the bathroom. She heard the shower come on through the closed door and she sank farther down into the bed, hoping she hadn’t been lying about being able to stay awake.
WHEN Rio came out of the bathroom, exactly four minutes later, he was still toweling his hair. He hadn’t wanted to stay gone long because Grace had looked like she was about to fall over at any second.
He smiled when he glanced toward the bed and saw that she was indeed asleep, her head and body tilted precariously to the side of the mound of pillows propping her up.
Tossing the towel aside, he walked silently to the side of the bed, eased onto the edge and gently shook her awake.
“Grace,” he murmured. “Wake up, honey. Just long enough to get you under the covers and comfortable, okay?”
Her eyes flew open and her breath ended on a gasp. He could feel her pulse racing against his fingers resting on her wrist.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She righted herself, pushing back against the pillows so she sat farther up. “No, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to fall asleep anyway.”
“It’s probably a good idea if you get some rest. You’re dead on your feet.”
Her face fell. “You said we’d talk.”
“I did,” he said gently. “And I will. Just maybe not tonight. You’re exhausted, Grace. I don’t know how you’re even conscious right now. Any normal person would be damn near in a coma.”
Her lips tightened into a stubborn line. “I’m okay. I want to know about my sister. I’ll go to sleep after we talk.”
“Okay, but I want you to get comfortable first.”
He held out his hand to help her off the bed and then he turned down the covers, arranged her pillows and motioned for her to crawl back in. Once she was setce hetled, he walked around to the other side and sat at the opposite end of the bed on top of the covers so they faced each other catty-corner.
“How do you know my sister?” she asked before he could open his mouth.
“She helped an American soldier escape captivity several months ago.”
Grace nodded. “Yes, I know. I was sort of there when things got bad. I was worried that Shea was going to get hurt. Using telepathy for any prolonged period of time weakens her, and then there was the fact that she was absorbing all his pain.”
Rio cocked his head. “Shea swears she’s very different from you. She says she can only temporarily take away a person’s suffering but she can’t truly heal anyone.”
“It’s true,” Grace said quietly. “We’re different in some ways. But the same in others. Shea’s abilities are random, a fact that has always frustrated her. She never knows who she’ll connect with. Who she’ll hear. Who will be able to hear her.”
“And you? You have the ability to focus your telepathy?”
Grace looked down at her hands, and Rio very much wanted to touch her. To somehow make contact. Pull her into his arms and just hold on to her until she knew she was safe.
“I could. I’m not sure about now. It’s all a mess really. I’m not sure how what they did to me will affect me in the long run. I severed my link to Shea because I wanted to protect her. But when I tried to reach out to her again, I couldn’t. It feels random to me now. I heard the man in the mountains. He was broadcasting so much anger, I could literally feel him as well as hear him. But everything is silent around me now. I learned to focus my talent better than Shea did. But I don’t have the same control now that I’ve always had. Maybe I never will.”
Her lips were turned down into an unhappy frown that made his chest ache. There was so much despair and fatigue in her voice.
“So this soldier Shea saved…You know him?”
Rio nodded. “I work with his brothers. They’re all ex-military. They run a special ops group that takes on dangerous jobs no one else can or is willing to do. Sometimes we contract with the government and take military assignments that the government can’t officially get involved in. Other times we do private sector jobs, like hostage retrieval, tracking kidnap victims, protection, basically anything that takes a lot of muscle and stealth.”
Grace’s eyes widened. Her hands twisted nervously in front of her, and he could tell her unease had just shot through the roof. It didn’t take a rocket scientist or being telepathic to figure out what was going on in her head.
“Grace, listen to me. The people after you may well be backed by a government group. We may all be on the same team on paper, but there are any number of shadow groups with their own agenda and each serves a different master. We don’t work for the government. We aren’t government owned. We contract with Uncle Sam on certain assignments. We don’t prey on innocent civilians.”
“Where is Shea now?” she asked nervously.
Rio smiled. “If I had to guess, she’s with Nathan and he’s keeping very close watch over her. She couldn’t be in safer hands. He loves her. They’ve been through hell together.”